BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama rained down 3-pointers on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi early in their NCAA tournament first-round matchup Thursday.
The quick onslaught made sure the Crimson Tide’s reign as a No. 1 overall seed got off to a smashing start — even with star freshman Brandon Miller going scoreless — in the form of a 96-75 romp at Legacy Arena, less than an hour from their Tuscaloosa campus.
The Tide (30-5) set aside their off-court distractions and buried 10 first-half 3s in a predictably easy win over the South Region’s 16th-seeded Islanders (24-11). Alabama, which swept the Southeastern Conference regular-season and tournament titles for the second time in three years, coasted after leading 54-34 at halftime.
Miller, the 6-foot-9 All-American who has been beset by questions about his presence at the scene of a fatal shooting in mid-January, sat out the final 14 minutes and missed all five field-goal attempts while limited by injury. His previous low was eight points against Houston on Dec. 10.
“We’re making shots at a pretty high level,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “It’s nice to put up 96 without Brandon scoring any of them. He’s been nursing a groin injury. We want to play him limited minutes and were able to keep him under 20.”
Of course, none of the Alabama starters played more than 21 minutes, resting up for the next round and a Saturday matchup with eighth-seeded Maryland. The Terrapins (22-12) beat ninth-seeded West Virginia 67-65 on Thursday.
“It doesn’t really matter how much I score. I think our whole team are just winners,” Miller said. “The final score at the end of the game, that’s what we care about.”
Miller hasn’t been accused of any crime in the shooting, which led to capital murder charges against Darius Miles — a member of Alabama’s team at the time — and another man.
Miller, who politely but succinctly responded to questions about anything not related to the game, has been accompanied at the tournament by a security guard provided by the university.
“It doesn’t bother me,” he said of the threats, which he forwards to university officials. “I send it to the right people and they handle it.”
Miller came into the game averaging nearly 20 points.
Nick Pringle, a junior college transfer who came in averaging 3 points per game, scored 17 and had a season-high 13 rebounds. Mark Sears made a trio of 3-pointers in a 58-second span of the first half and scored 15 points. Jahvon Quinerly scored 13, Nimari Burnett added 11 and Noah Clowney got all 10 of his in the first five-plus minutes, including three 3s.
Alabama had a stretch of 8-for-11 shooting from behind the arc early and finished 15-of-33 (45.5%) overall from 3-point range.
Trevian Tennyson led the Islanders with 20 points, while Isaach Mushula scored 16 and Owen Dease had 14 for the Southland Conference champions. The Islanders have never beaten a ranked team, although coach Steve Lutz has lifted them to two straight NCAA tourney appearances since taking over a program that went 5-19 the season before his arrival.
They faced Alabama two days after a First Four play-in victory against Southeast Missouri State in Dayton, Ohio.
“They should be very, very proud of themselves,” Lutz said.
The Islanders were without Southland defensive player of the year Terrion Murdix, who has a left knee injury.
They did muster an 8-0 flurry early in the second half to cut the deficit to 13 points, but the momentum didn’t last.
“They’re a great team. They answered back,” Tennyson said. “They have a chance to win the national title.”
Less than a week after winning three games in three days in Nashville to take the SEC tourney, the Tide were even closer to home as they began their quest for an even bigger championship.
“When we came out of the tunnel, I had chills,” Sears said. “Just seeing all the love we had, it was just an unbelievable experience.”